Alex Pearce played every minute of every single Championship game as Reading picked up the league title.

After 4,140 minutes of action in 46 matches, Pearce looks back at his outstanding season.

I’ve been quite lucky to have played every minute of every game. I’ve picked up a few knocks along the way, but just soldiered on. It’s been a real pleasure to have been part of everything.

Personally, I look back at the away trips with the greatest pleasure as everyone expects us to win at home.

Going to tough places and digging in, like Millwall, Middlesbrough and Leeds amongst others. They’re great occasions when you’re away together as a team.

The first six games seem like they were 10 years ago as we’ve come on in leaps and bounds since then.

Looking back, that was a tough period for us and we started off really badly. We couldn’t quite get over the summer we had and everyone was still in shock. We lost a few big players as well.

Matt Mills was a big player and personality so to see him gone did effect us, the same with Shane Long. When you see players like that walk out the door it is bound to affect you.

But we brought in some great players to replace them and we went from strength to strength.

Those first six games were a real grind, but we came through the other side.

What a siging Kaspars Gorkss has been for instance. He has to be one of the best signings Reading FC has ever made, in my opinion.

We were leaking goals at the time, but he gave us that calming influence.

We lost that first game at Hull City 1-0, but we were solid enough at the back and had a certain shape about us.

When Kaspars came to the club the gaffer said to me that he wanted me to be in his pocket and be his best mate. From then on I’ve learned from him and it’s been a pleasure playing with him. Kaspars has been great for me.

One game that stands out for me is the 3-2 win away at Ipswich. We came back, I got a goal and Hunty scored the winner.

That day we knew it was a massive result.

That was a key defining moment for me as we should never have got anything out of that game, that’s what great teams do.

The 3-0 win against West Ham United at home was a luxury game for me. We just dominated that one from start to finish, it was comfortable for us in the end.

I managed to get another goal in that game too, so that was very nice as well.

The Jimmy Kebe sock thing got a lot of publicity after that game. People made a big deal out of it. I don’t think he meant any disrespect from it. If West Ham were winning 2-0 then they wouldn’t have taken any offence.

We gave Jimmy some banter about it and asked him if he would do it again at Upton Park, it got blown out of proportion.

In January we lost to Stevenage in the FA Cup and that was a tough game. I remember thinking how pumped up they were. That was a wake-up call and we didn’t want that to happen again.

We wanted to do well in the cup, but we got turned over and that gave us a kick up the backside.

We just ticked the games off and that’s credit to the manager.

When it got to the Southampton game we seemed to have our backs up against the walls from the kick-off and every time it came to Rickie Lambert it was right into his chest and I was thinking we can’t get a break here.

Then we do what we do and Robbo (Jason Roberts) got the goal. It was a great cross from Jimmy Kebe and that has been how we’ve done it in a lot of away games.

When we went to 1-1, I wasn’t ever worried. We just had to go again and weaker teams might have crumbled, there was no blame or finger pointing.

Then Alfie came on and did what he does, it was as simple as that. It was a fantastic feeling.

Coming from where we did we’ve been able to enjoy it all. We were never really at the top where there’s pressure.

It was a great achievement and every step we made we knew we could kick on.

At the top you have nowhere to go, but we caught everyone and got there at exactly the right time.

I don’t think being a Premier League player will kick in until the fixtures come out and we start seeing all the big teams come to Madejski Stadium.

It will be a different type of challenge next season and it might not be as physically draining, but we just have to relish it and enjoy every minute of it.

We can’t be afraid of anyone and we won’t be. We might get undone some weeks, but we will give it a good go and be fine.